Eugen Ritter von Schobert

Infobox Military Person
name=Eugen Ritter von Schobert
lived=March 13, 1883-September 12, 1941


placeofbirth=Würzburg, Bavaria, Germany
placeofdeath=USSR (airplane crash)
allegiance=Germany
branch=Bavarian Army, Reichswehr, Wehrmacht
serviceyears=1902-1941
rank=Colonel General ("Generaloberst")
commands=VII Army Corps (1938-1940)
Eleventh Army (1940-1941)
battles=World War I: Battle of Verdun, Spring Offensive of 1918
World War II: Polish campaign, Battle of France, Operation Barbarossa
awards=Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (1940)
Military Order of Max Joseph, Knight's Cross
House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords
Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Crown and Swords (1918)
Romanian Order of Michael the Brave (1941)

Eugen Ritter von Schobert [German title|Ritter] (March 13, 1883 – September 12, 1941) was a German general who served in World War I and World War II. He died in the Soviet Union when his observation plane crashed in a Soviet minefield. ["Axis Biographical Research"]

Early life

Schobert was born as Eugen Schobert in Würzburg in the Kingdom of Bavaria, a member state of the German Empire. ["Virtuti Pro Patria", 404] . He was the son of Major Karl Schobert and Anna "née" Michaely. ["Virtuti Pro Patria", 404] Schobert entered the Royal Bavarian Army in July 1902. He served primarily in the 1st Bavarian Infantry Regiment "König" and underwent pilot training in 1911. ["Virtuti Pro Patria", 404]

World War I and post-war

During World War I, Schobert remained a Bavarian infantry officer, serving the entire war on the Western Front. During the German Spring Offensive of 1918, he led the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Bavarian Infantry Regiment. For his actions on March 23, 1918, when he personally and successfully led his battalion in the crossing of a canal near Jussy against stiff British resistance, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Order of Max Joseph. ["Bayerns Goldenes Ehrenbuch," 46] This was Bavaria's highest military, comparable to the Prussian Pour le Mérite, and conferred a patent of nobility on a recipient who was a commoner. Hence Eugen Schobert became Eugen Ritter von Schobert. [Although his actions were in March 1918, the Military Max Joseph Order was not actually bestowed on Schobert until after the end of the war and the abdication of the Bavarian king. Therefore, technically his (and a number of other recipients') patent of nobility was only a change of name. In any event, the patent was non-hereditary so his children would not have carried the title.]

After World War I, Schobert remained in the Reichswehr and then the Wehrmacht, steadily rising up the ranks. He was Inspector of Infantry from December 1933 to September 1934 and then commanded the 17th Infantry Division and the 33rd Infantry Division. [Günter Wegner, "Stellenbesetzung der deutschen Heere 1815-1939." (Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück, 1993), Bd. 1, 767, 830, 835.] He took command of the VII Army Corps ("VII. Armeekorps") on February 4, 1938. [Wegner, "Stellenbesetzung," 797.]

World War II and death

In September 1939, Schobert led his VII Army Corps in the invasion of Poland as part of the reserve of Army Group South. In May-June 1940, his corps, part of General Ernst Busch's Sixteenth Army of Army Group A, participated in the invasion of Belgium and Luxembourg and the Battle of France. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for his leadership of the VII Corps in the breakthrough of the Maginot Line and the capture of Nancy and Toul. ["Virtuti Pro Patria", 404] He remained in command of the corps during preparations for the invasion of Great Britain.

In September 1940, Schobert was given command of the Eleventh Army. The army was assigned to Army Group South for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union. During combat operations in the southern Soviet Union, Schobert and his pilot were killed when their Fieseler Storch observation aircraft crashed in a Soviet minefield.

Family

Schobert married Alice Rieder-Gollwitzer in 1921. They had three children: two sons and one daughter. His younger son was killed in combat in 1944 while serving as a fighter pilot for the Luftwaffe. ["Virtuti Pro Patria", 404-5]

Decorations

* Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (1940)
* Military Order of Max Joseph, Knight's Cross
* 1914 Iron Cross 1st Class with Clasp "1939"
* 1914 Iron Cross 2nd Class with Clasp "1939"
* House Order of Hohenzollern, Knight's Cross with Swords
* Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Swords
* Bavarian Military Merit Order, 4th Class with Crown and Swords (1918)
* Romanian Order of Michael the Brave, 2nd Class and 3rd Class (1941)
* 1918 Wound Badge in black

References

* Rudolf von Kramer, Otto Freiherr von Waldenfels und Dr. Günther Freiherr von Pechmann: "Virtuti Pro Patria: Der königlich bayerische Militär-Max-Joseph-Orden", München 1966 (Rudolf von Kramer, Otto Freiherr von Waldenfels & Dr. Günther Freiherr von Pechmann: "Virtuti Pro Patria: The Royal Bavarian Military Max Joseph Order", Munich, 1966)
* Bayerisches Kriegsarchiv: "Bayerns Goldenes Ehrenbuch", gewidmet den Inhabern der höchsten bayerischen Kriegs-auszeichnungen aus dem Weltkrieg 1914/18", München 1928 (Bavarian War Archives: "Bavaria's Golden Book of Honor", dedicated to the holders of the highest Bavarian war decorations of the World War 1914-18", Munich, 1928)
* [http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/WEHRMACHT/HEER/Generaloberst/SCHOBERT_EUGEN.html Generaloberst Eugen Siegfried Erich Ritter von Schobert] at the [http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/ Axis Biographical Research] website.

Notes